Brooke Weston

News Item

Learn 1000 words in a foreign language

Friday 30th May 2014 by C. Freeman

Students, staff and parents are being challenged to learn 1000 words in a foreign language in a free scheme by Speak to the Future. Organisations and individuals can sign up for the new initiative, which equips participants with enough basic language knowledge to understand sentences and frequently used expressions in their chosen language.

The project is being adopted by Brooke Weston’s modern foreign languages department and staff are also encouraging colleagues, tutor groups and parents to get involved. Currently the scheme is available in French, German and Spanish with vocabulary in Arabic, Hebrew, Italian, Japanese, Mandarin, Russian, Urdu and Polish being available soon.

More than 3,000 people have signed up to the scheme sponsored by Routes into Languages and the British Academy. Speak to the Future said: ‘1000 words is the vocabulary size of someone who is able to hold a basic conversation in the language they are learning. But it doesn’t mean that in order to reach that level, all you have to do is to learn words! In order to put them together, you’ll need to understand something of how the language works, and familiarise yourself with them in context. We’re not asking people literally to learn 1000 words, but acquiring vocabulary is an important part of language learning.’

Louise Pape, languages teacher at Brooke Weston said: ‘This is a really incredible opportunity for people of all ages to either learn a completely new language, or else brush up their skills in a familiar one. Students and staff at Brooke Weston are being encouraged to sign up and we also want to let parents and guardians know of this opportunity. With the summer holidays coming up it gives people enough time to brush up on those essential words and phrases and it may encourage a renewed interest in languages and learning.’